TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Trip Report 06/16 - 06/24

Just got back from my first BVI sailing trip – with myself as the captain and my family. What a blast ! I wanted to make this a special experience so that we’d go on more trips together. It was a great success with both my wife and daughter saying what a great time we had, and my daughter (10) is now asking to go on more sailing trips. My son was also a great help (13) and really grew into learning the ropes and enjoying sailing. I’d like to thank everyone on this forum for all the help in planning – this trip, I really felt that I was prepared and knew absolutely everything (like an ole-timer).
Here were the details of our trip.

Saturday 06/15 – Arrival at the Moorings.
We took the red-eye on Friday night from Seattle to Chicago – which was rough (tip – make sure you don’t get the seats in front of exit row as they don’t recline!). I caught up on sleep in Chicago, and on the flight to Puerto-Rico. We took Cape-air to Tortola – the size of the plane was quite a surprise but added to the excitement.
The moorings was chaotic ! We had wanted to stay in the hotel – but they had changed it on us and we spent the first night on the boat which I was OK with. I had to keep pushing to get on the boat on time – we boarded “Scrapper” our Moorings 4000 at 6 pm. I did the captain’s briefing at 7 pm, also had dinner (rushed at Charlies) and also had to get groceries on-board.

Sunday 06/16 – Peter Island
First up was my entry in the boaty-ball lottery trying to get a spot at Cooper. Until now I had been an advocate of boaty-ball and wasn’t sure what the fuss was about. How could I not get a ball - as I had both my laptop and my iPad logged in, loaded and ready to go. My opinion quickly changed at 10 seconds past 7 am, when all the moorings on Cooper were gone ! I was a bit bummed but chose to not to let it deter my trip – Peter it is !
It was a big scramble getting ready – even though I’d had groceries delivered the night before as there were some things that meant a trip to Riteway. A family leaving also gave me the tip that the self-lighting charcoal doesn’t work so I grabbed some lighter fluid as well. With everything provisioned - we left the Moorings around 11 am.
I’d chosen Peter island as it was closest and a good warm-up. We grabbed a FCFS buoy inside the harbor, some distance from the Willy T. We had a great first day paddle-boarding, snorkeling and having a BBQ. We loved looking at all the birds and the fishes, even spotting a turtle. We chose not to enjoy the Willy T – my wife didn’t think it was kid-friendly enough 😊.

Monday 06/17 – Scrub Island and Full moon party
We got up late – everyone else had headed out by time we got up. Our destination was Scrub which was some fun back and forth and tacking up the channel. I’d brought a hand-line from Seattle which I put on a tuna-troller lure that I’d bought from Amazon for my son to fish with. Within half-an-hour he’d caught a barracuda, and although we had to put it back – it was a lot of fun catching it.
We got to Scrub around 1.30 in the afternoon – by which time we enjoyed a swim in the pool and lunch poolside. The family loved Scrub – and loved staying in the resort. The beach was lovely and the kids loved the water trampoline.
That evening we went to the full-moon party – making use of the Scrub island shuttle leaving at 6.30 pm (perfect time!). We enjoyed sushi on the beach (just so-so but the atmosphere was great) and the kids loved the fire balls on the water. Good party and we took the 9.45 pm shuttle back to Scrub to be back on the boat around 10.15. If you’re going to full-moon – I’d advocate staying in Scrub and taking the Shuttle.

Tuesday 06/18 – Leverick bay and the Baths
Next destination was Leverick bay marina. We headed out on the south side of Scrub island and in hindsight this was a poor choice. I was determined to sail – but it was a fair bit of tacking. The wind and waves were up – it was 20 knots gusting 25. I think I put my crew through a bit much here, my wife was a bit seasick, and I should have motored a bit. My son also caught his second barracuda which was fun. We arrived in Leverick around 2.30 pm and enjoyed lunch by the pool (roti is awesome!).
We next headed to the baths with a taxi – it was a bit late in the afternoon now (approaching to 4pm) and our taxi-driver reminded us that it closed at 5. We arrived at Baths just after 4 as the masses of crowds were leaving. We really enjoyed exploring the caves, although it was a bit rushed and we probably could have enjoyed it for another hour or two. Again – great tip is to take a taxi to the baths from Leverick… Dinner was back on the boat with pre-cooked Taco filling from Seattle ! Great evening.

Wednesday 06/19 – Anegada
We left early to head to Anegada – leaving by 8.30 am. It was smooth sailing with the wind 15-20 knots and the sea was calm.There were many other boats heading up with us. I’d programmed the channel entrance waypoint on my GPS and it was easy to go through the channel. We arrived at Anegada around 11.30 am, grabbing one of the very last FCFS balls.
I was a bit nervous about the depth given what the depth-meter said (close to 0!), so I put on the snorkel to check it out once we arrived. There was a good 2 feet under the keel when we were moored on the ball so it seems as if the Charter company calibrates the depth-meter to deal with this. Good call on their part !
After a lunch of hot-dogs, we grabbed a taxi to Cow-wreck beach which was fabulous and one of the highlights ! We didn’t realize that we had to make a reservation for dinner when we arrived (as we were hoping to go to Wonky Dog). Instead we made a reservation at Potters by the Sea.
Dinner at Potters was lovely – both my Wife and I had lobster which we both said was the best we’ve ever had. The atmosphere was great as well. A great location.

Thursday 06/20 – Anegada and tour with Kelly
We had booked a tour with Kelly’s tours – we got picked up around 9 from our boat. Kevin was our guide – it was a spectacular tour – seeing flamingoes, doing a snorkel and catching conch and lobster. The reef within Anegada is incredible, it was absolutely amazing, well worth it. Kevin had us taste the raw conch was quite an amazing taste. We had to release the lobster that Kevin caught as it was pregnant with all of the eggs on it’s tail. We ended up sharing the tour with another couple – so net cost was $175 – which was quite a bargain.

Friday 06/21 – JVD – Diamond Cay
A 24 nautical mile sail to Diamond Cay – it was a broad reach all the way down with a total of 5 hours of sailing. The crew really enjoyed it. I had booked a boaty-ball for Diamond Cay – which reduced the stress on the way down as I knew I had an anchorage. On arrival in Diamond Cay we headed to the “bubbly pool” – it was fun but a bit of a disappoint as the tide was low. Dinner that night was at Foxy’s Taboo – it was a lovely location, and I enjoyed the ribs.

Saturday 06/22 – White Bay and Cane Garden Bay
A quick 45 minute motoring to White Bay… where we finally used our Anchor. It was a quick swim ashore. White bay is absolutely amazing, one of the loveliest beaches I’ve ever seen. We all enjoyed it, and enjoyed the painkillers at Soggy Dollar and lunch at Hendos. We headed out at 3 to be at anchorage in Cane Garden bay by 4.30 (boaty ball again).
Dinner that evening as at Quitos – the Tuna was amazing !

Sunday 06/23 – The Bight Norman Island
We got up early for my kids to enjoy the floating obstacle course in Cane Garden Bay. We then headed out on our way to Norman Island, a short sail along the way. We came perilously close to going into US waters so definitely something to look out for.
The bight was gorgeous, a lovely anchorage. I took my son snorkeling at the Caves in Norman Island – it was definitely worth it. There was a school of small phosphorescent fish – amazing sight to see.
We enjoyed our last dinner at Pirates Bight restaurant – lovely location ! Somehow this ended up being our most expensive dinner – we thought it was on the over-priced side. Tuna was disappointing relative to the night before at Quitos. My daughter loved the chicken roti.

Monday 06/24 – back to the Moorings base
It was a quick trip over to Moorings base with us arriving by 10.30. The checkout was seamless… Great trip !
The moorings base didn’t seem quite “with it” again – pool bar not open, no sandwiches on sale, restaurant not open till noon etc. We had to rush to catch the ferry to St Thomas so it was a quick lunch of Caesar salad and Calamari.

Post trip – St Thomas
We ended our trip with a stay at Wyndham Margaritaville in St Thomas (interesting resort!). The highlight was a fishing trip with my son on Ocean Surfari where we caught 4 black-fin tuna. Flew back via United to DC, and then back to Seattle.

Changes ?
If I would do it all again – I would probably change my itinerary to start mid-week or go clockwise. I would try to do more marina stops, interspersed throughout the trip. We also liked White Bay so much we would stay there longer as well as more time at the Baths. Perhaps I would change Peter Island or Diamond Cay with something else. Scrub Island is lovely so to me that’s a must – perhaps as a break after Anegada. All in all it was great – so these are all minor tweaks on something that was already great.

Boaty-ball
I’m very mixed on this – it was nice having it when it was no stress to book it. Booking Cooper was a disaster. I think so much angst and ill-will could be avoided if they had a system allowing you to put yourself in for a lotter the night before…

Moorings
This was my first trip so I booked with the Moorings as I thought they would be the “best”. It was disappointing honestly – especially as they changed our reservation from sleeping in the hotel to being on the boat. The base was in chaos, I didn’t feel taken care of at all and I had to “hustle” to get things on the boat. On the other hand – the boat was well maintained and worked extremely well. My next trip I will definitely shop around and look at other charter companies.

Thanks for reading this far and for all the amazing suggestions on this forum !

Great report and glad you had a great time

Nice report, sounds like your research paid off! How did you like the Moorings 4000?

I don't know that crossing into US waters is an issue. Certainly we've tacked within feet of St. John many times without a second thought when easting past West End.
Maybe someone will enlighten me.

Sailing underway up Drakes Passage Channel there are no worries about 'entering' USVI waters - Unless you stop at a STJ bay.

As mentioned it’s completely ok to sail in US waters. You just can’t anchor or pick up a Moorings even for a minute. I believe the term is right of innocent passage.
G

I think that you were early enough to get a fcfs ball at Cooper. Plan B could have been a short trip back to Peter Island.

Other than Anegada, would you use boatyball again?

Lovely report and great attitude all week with whatever you encountered. BVI is a great place as long as you know how to "tack" when plans call for it. Your report is giving me alot of DIF..... need to get back there soon.....

Hi,
Really enjoyed your trip report. Makes me wish I was in the BVI right now. Thanks for posting!

Great trip report and glad your family caught the "bug" the rest of us have. Couple of thoughts:
We loved Scrub but have considered it a "crew" decision. We generally have some combination of adults and some like a resort stop and others not as much.
FCFS was definitely a possibility at Cooper, you just never know. As long as there is a Plan B it's worth a shot
We try to go 10 days each trip and hit 5 of the hot spots for repeat visits and 5 new spots of interest. Means no trip is ever the same and we LOVE that!

Congrats on a great trip!

On Boatyball - absolutely would use them again... but I would only use them if there's no "stress", otherwise not worth it. I could have done a FCFS at Cooper - and probably should have tried. Somehow the whole experience just soured me though...

Good to know on "innocent" passage - I didn't know this at the time and was worried about the transit. They mentioned that crossing into the US was a big deal at the briefing but clearly this was when you intentionally cross. Good to know !

Re CIBC, It’s sad that the existence of BB forces you to use BB because of the conversion of fcfs to bb.

Just to be clear you can intentionally enter US waters as long as you don’t intend to anchor or moor and it’s in transit from points outside US waters. West end to Norman you can go as close as you like to St John as part of the passage.

Hey, SunsetDude- great report!

I'm headed down next week with my family of 4 and like you, we'll be on a M4000 for a week. Been doing the BVI for a long time, but this will be my first time with the 4000- any particular likes/dislike/quirks to know about?

Thanks,
-dan

How many FCFS balls are actually still left at Cooper?

Never mind....saw the answer in another thread....